The father of a disabled girl from Sidcup has accused the council of not "understanding" after his daughter's car service to school was taken away.

Seven-year-old Lily-Rose Jenkins attends Willow Dene School in Greenwich. She suffers from a rare chromosome condition called FOXG1, and she cannot walk or talk.

Lily-Rose has been taken to and from school in a taxi for the past five years - a service paid for by Bexley Council.

Her parents, Paul and Karen, have to reapply for the service each year.

However, when Mr Jenkins tried to renew the service for the next academic year, the council denied his request.

Instead, the family was offered a travel allowance of £1,200 to take Lily-Rose to school themselves.

After an appeal to the council, the family was told they had not provided enough evidence of her condition.

"We have given all the evidence we could. She meets the criteria for home-to-school travel," Mr Jenkins said.

The father-of-three added his eldest son has autism and will be starting secondary school soon, and the couple has another baby on the way.

With the big family and the fact both he and his wife work, Mr Jenkins is worried about how he will manage to get Lily-Rose to school on time every day, claiming his daughter's education could suffer as a result.

Mr Jenkins added he felt they were being "penalised for being a working family."

Mr and Mrs Jenkins insist there is no other option for their daughter's education, as Bexley Council gave her a place at Willow Dene because there was no other option in the borough.

"She is really happy and she is doing really well there," Mr Jenkins said.

He added: "You can't have this service for five years and then have it taken away."

A council spokeswoman said families with children with disabilities have been offered cash to take their children to school since 2016.

She added the council is aware of one family in the borough that uses their allowance to "afford a car".

The spokeswoman continued: "Personal budgets have been designed to offer parents and carers more choice and flexibility in how their children travel to school and all our travel assistance options aim to ensure our children and young people are supported in becoming as confident and independent as possible."